Sunday, July 16, 2006

Ramming Speed: Heroism and Humility

Hart Seely, writing for the Syracuse Post-Standard, brings us a type of journalism from Iraq that has been all too rare as he describes a wild chase and firefight that ocurred in January, and lead to medals for members of the 10th Mountain Division:

Then came a moment the soldiers still cannot fathom. They saw the muzzle of a machine gun sprout from the sedan's side window. They heard a burst of bullets, and they saw a group of small children scatter and fall to the ground.

To this day, they do not know why the insurgents fired on the school. It might have been a diversionary tactic. It might have been a mistake.

It probably wasn't a mistake.

Before the terrorists could make their escape onto a four-lane highway, where their vehicle would be able to outrun the heavily armored Humvee, the driver was given the order to ram the terrorists. He did. Twice.

The soldiers downplay their courage:

"I look at the men who landed at D-Day," he said. "Some of them came away without any medals at all. Compared to that, what did I do? I got shot at for a while, chased some guys down and killed them. Compared to storming the beaches at Normandy? It pales in comparison. But at the same time, I'm proud of the award."